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New Sparks resident Kathy Souvirou was one of the speakers opposed to the Lazy 8 casino Wednesday at the Sparks City Council meeting / David B. Parker/Reno Gazette-Journal

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The Sparks City Council voted to settle a lawsuit and allow the Lazy 8 casino on Pyramid Highway during a contentious meeting Wednesday after voting against getting a second legal opinion on the developers' suit.

About two dozen citizens opposed to the casino on the east side of Pyramid south of La Posada Drive suggested the council hire a lawyer to review the $100 million suit before settling.

"I'm asking for a second legal opinion just like you would get a second medical opinion if you were to get open-heart surgery," casino opponent Jeannie Adams said.

Councilmen John Mayer and Phil Salerno voted for a motion to hire outside legal counsel to review the case, but Judy Moss, Mike Carrigan and Ron Schmitt voted against it. The vote on the settlement split the same way.

The two-year debate about the neighborhood casino

seemingly ended Sept. 1 when the city announced the casino could be developed after a private vote by council members. They had voted publicly Aug. 24 against the casino, but immediately were sued by developers Harvey Whittemore and Peppermill Casinos and decided in the closed meeting to settle the lawsuit.

The settlement drops the claims for damages and allows the casino, hotel and movie theater.

But Attorney General George Chanos said the private vote was illegal, so the council met Wednesday to address the settlement in public as required by state law.

Moss was the swing vote, rejecting the casino Aug. 24 but voting Wednesday for the settlement that allows it.

"My own personal opinion is that I'd like to dig in my heels," Moss said, prompting shouts of "Do it!" from the audience that drowned her out.

She began to say that the majority of Sparks citizens don't want to face a lawsuit from the developers when the crowd again drowned her out with shouts of "Where are they?"

One of the few people at the meeting speaking in favor of the project was a representative of a cement workers union.

"You should settle the lawsuit, and we should all move forward," said Richard Daly, Reno business manager for the Laborer's International Union of North America, saying he was speaking for himself and not the union.

Lazy 8 opponent Vija Cox said the casino would lower home values in the area.

"It brings people in that are a little unsavory at times, a little drunk driving," Cox said, adding she plans to have her house appraised now and after the casino is built to see if the value drops.

City Attorney Chet Adams advised the council not to hire another lawyer and seemed to take the suggestion personally.

"It would be against the public's interest," Adams said. "You don't see me asking for new city council members when I don't like the way they vote."

Adams said he was "at a loss" as to why Mayer suggested hiring another lawyer.

"Personally, I find that disingenuous at best," Adams said, and he went on to describe why he thinks Whittemore and Peppermill have the right to develop their casino.

"This last speech by our city attorney shows why we want outside counsel," Mayer said when Adams finished.

The developers say they have the right to build on Pyramid because a 1994 agreement to build the Red Hawk golf and housing community includes a casino and says it can be moved outside Red Hawk if it's not built there.

Stephen Peek, a lawyer for John Ascuaga's Nugget, said developers' claims for damages were frivolous and that the 1994 agreement is not as solid as the developers make it sound.

"You are being misled if you are being told otherwise," Peek said. "This case is defensible."

Nugget executives who oppose the Lazy 8, including Chief Executive Michonne Ascuaga, said they have offered legal assistance to the city to fight the lawsuit but have been rebuffed.

After the meeting, Ascuaga said Nugget lawyers were reviewing legal options.

"But we would never go in and sue for damages," she said. "That is a joke. Why not get independent counsel to review it?"

Carrigan said during the meeting that he had received several messages suggesting the city fire Adams, and before he could explain it wasn't possible to fire an elected official, the room erupted in shouts and applause as it did many times during the meeting.